Scott Pilgrim creator Bryan Lee O’Malley has revealed the box set for the Scott Pilgrim vs. the World comic. Featuring art by Paul Robertson (who worked on Scott Pilgrim vs. the World: The Game), all six issues of the Oni Press comic, and a poster will be part of it when it ships November 3 in North America.
The poster can also be purchased separately!
Source: RadioMaru.com {link no longer active}
Zynga has filed a patent on purchased in-game currency. The company has made hundreds of millions of dollars off of the sale of its in-game currencies.
The patent is specifically for players withdrawing virtual currency for cash and not the other way around; an important distinction since it might otherwise run afoul of certain gambling laws. If granted, this patent may give Zynga extra leverage with Facebook and other social game makers.
Source: VentureBeat
The Apple Store app was updated recently with more features. The free Apple Store 1.1 now gives engraving and gift wrapping options and store appointments can be added to iCal.
The Apple Store app also allows users to check-in for Genius Bar appointments and reservation pickups. The app can also use iOS’s Location Services to find nearby stores and offer additional services.
Source: MacWorld
This past year, ad revenue from PSN has increased by 60 percent. While The Tester has been successful and is entering its second season, Sony admits that a learning curve has been involved.
“We’ve really had to shift our mindset from a gaming company to a media company,” said Susan Panico, senior director of PlayStation Network. “You need more flexibility. Original series are a more passive entertainment. They are a little out of our initial purview. For one thing, we didn t always have the capability to sell this content.”
“Sony has sold more ads for season two of The Tester with companies like Ford, Electronic Arts and The U.S. Air Force. The goal of the show is to reach 3.5 million downloads, but regardless of how it does, Sony isn’t going to rush into lots more programming. There are more things coming, but you won t see a huge rollout,” she said. “We have a small [programming] team so we want to really hone in on franchises. It makes perfect sense for us to create content that keeps people coming back.”
Source: MediaWeek
Apple has made a killing off of the downloadable games on their iOS devices. Nintendo has tried to compete with Apple by offering their own downloadable services, but Zoonami founder Martin Hollis doesn’t think they’ve been quite as capable with it.
“Apple have had such massive success in capturing media attention – they’ve sucked all of the air out of it,” he said. “I don’t know that Nintendo’s putting a great deal of energy into trying to generate PR for WiiWare or DSiWare.”
Hollis was still bullish on the WiiWare business model, adding, “My impression is that you can make a game if you’ve got a few thousand Euros, Dollars, Pounds – because you will need a dev kit or two.. [If] you’ve got two really talented guys, you can make a game, and you can sell 200,000 and upwards. Some of the titles are 8 British pounds or 10 British pounds.”
“Our experience was extremely positive, but our title was a second-party title and it did have some TV advertising with a spot inside a larger advert for Wii,” continued Hollis. “We assume that has to have an impact. As for margins, it’s always the case that, if you make a good game you’re selling ten or a hundred times as many units as the guy who made a mediocre game, a game that’s maybe a little bit sub-par. Not much, but just a little bit. So that factor completely overrides any other.”
Source: GamesIndustry.biz
Nintendo of America has announced that it has sold over 65.3 million Wii Remote controllers in the U.S. since the Wii launched in November 2006. Roughly, 30.41 million included in Wii hardware bundles, 18.56 million sold separately and 12.92 million sold with Wii Play, with over three million sold in different colors; roughly 52.9 million Nunchuk controllers have been sold in the U.S. through the end of September.
Nintendo also revealed that the Wii Remote Plus, which features the MotionPlus technology built-in, will become the new standard for the system on November 7. It will be available in special bundles, hardware packages and sold separately for $39.99.
Red Dead Redemption is taking dead aim at the whole zombie multiplayer mode phenomenon with Undead Overrun, part of the Undead Nightmare DLC. What’s more, they’ve provided a nice little poem to go with it.
The final class for Blizzard’s Diablo III has been revealed and it’s something new and different: the Demon Hunter. Utilizing a variety of traps and crossbows, they turn the hunt back on the minions of evil.
With the new Back to the Future game, Telltale Games has gone all out to make it an authentic experience. Check out the new Marty McFly, whose voice is uncannily like Michael J. Fox’s.
{video link no longer active}
Assassin’s Creed: Brotherhood will be the first game in the Ubisoft series to feature online multiplayer. According to Ubisoft CEO Yves Guillemot, the offering for competitive and cooperative multiplayer was an important part of growing the franchise.
“It’s more and more in fashion to play with friends Call of Duty showed that But it s very important that our properties can be played online and offline, play alone and then play with friends,” says Guillemot.
When asked about Assassin’s Creed switching to a subscription-based service like Call of Duty is rumored to, Guillemot said, “I’d say that CoD is already charging customers for its service as Activision are already launching DLC regularly customers are already buying content.”
“When asked about how the previous DLC single-player episodes did,” he said, “They were successful at the level we expected. Offline DLC packs are generally not as successful as online DLC. The problem with offline is that many people don t finish games, so when you give them more levels they ask, I still haven t finished the game, why should I buy that When everyone is online, they experience new things as a community that encourages them to buy more.”
Source: MCV
